Clifford Robinson added a season-high 23 points while Jason Kidd had 16 points
and 10 assists for New Jersey, which has won two of its last three games since
dropping four straight.

Dwyane Wade netted a game-best 31 points and Antoine Walker sprang for 19
points in a reserve role for the Heat, who had a four-game winning streak
snapped. Shaquille O’Neal, meanwhile, was limited to 11 points on 4-of-12
shooting.

New Jersey played front-runner for the entire contest and twice built
substantial leads, but was unable to sustain them for very long.

After Robinson’s three-pointer with 2:19 remaining in the third quarter put
New Jersey up 77-62, the Heat promptly fired back with an 11-0 spurt — capped
by a Walker trey with about 11 minutes to go in the fourth — that pulled
Miami within four.

Several minutes later, O’Neal made it 84-83 with a one-hander in the paint.
That was as close as the Heat would get, however.

The Nets answered with a 10-3 charge, which Robinson finished with a three
ball, to make it 94-87 with about 3 1/2 minutes to play. Carter pushed the
lead to 10 moments later with a hanging baseline jumper over O’Neal, and Miami
never recovered.

“I was able to get in the lane and make things happen,” Carter said. “Coach
(Lawrence Frank) did a good job of putting me in different positions to
succeed.”

New Jersey bolted out to a 33-24 first-quarter lead and went up by as many as
16 in the first half.

Miami, though, finished the second stanza with a 15-3 surge to cut its deficit
to four, 55-51, by the intermission. The run was highlighted by Wade, who
stripped Carter at the top of the arc, ran the floor and then threw down a
one-handed slam to make it 52-50 with about a minute to play.

Carter responded with a dazzling behind-the-back feed to Kidd at the other
end, and Kidd finished the sequence with a three from the corner to keep New
Jersey in front.

“We had opportunities to win the game. We got to within one, but had a couple
of defensive breakdowns,” Wade said.

Game Notes

Miami’s Udonis Haslem missed the game due to a death in his family, while Nets
center Nenad Krstic (flu-like symptoms) also didn’t play…New Jersey shot
59.5 percent from the floor in the first half…Carter posted a season high in
rebounds.